When I visit Poland, I often tell the folks there that every Pole should go on a pilgrimage to Moscow at least once in his life time to express his gratitude for all the good things the Soviets did for that country. For one thing, some 20 million Russians died to liberate them from the Nazis. For another, Soviet socialim propelled Poland from the middle ages to the early 20th century. This was probably the best thing that happened to that country since the times of their 14th century king Casimir the Great who, it is said, transformed Poland from wood to brick. Six hundred years later, Soviet communists tranformed it again, form feudal backwater to a reasonably modern functioning economy (not to be confused with the role of the "Trojan donkey" it now plays in Europe).
Wojtek